Toronto high-end market becoming less energetic - local agent

Toronto high-end market becoming less energetic - local agent

A combination of far-reaching changes to federal rules and uncertainty over recent political developments is making both buyers and sellers in Toronto’s high-end market more cautious, according to Chestnut Park Real Estate Ltd. agent Janet Lindsay.

“I think people have frankly gone into a ‘wait and see’ mode,” Lindsay told The Globe and Mail. “It feels to most people that it’s been going on for a few weeks.”

Just last month, the federal government implemented harsher stipulations concerning the insured mortgage sector. Along with the Brexit polls earlier this year and Donald Trump’s ascent to the U.S. presidency, all of these might have proven too much for the market to digest in the short term.

However, these should not be taken as signs that home prices and the market itself will actually cool down.

“I’m not seeing any softening in pricing,” Lindsay stated, adding that the “less frantic” pace should be attributed to home owners’ holiday celebrations rather than to any market weakness.

The agent noted that many of the prospective sellers she’s been working with are getting ready for spring 2017 instead, with some already having gone so far as preparing their homes for showings.

Also, the new stress test means that some buyers—especially millennials who might be leaning on parental money for their first purchases in the less demanding mid-range sector—will have to save some more before they can enter the market.